Baby food making

Made a few batches of baby food today using my baby bullet I got at my baby shower.

I love the baby bullet so much. Made three sweet potatoes worth yesterday, and four pears and four avocados today. The freezer is filled with frozen baby food. I bought these storage containers on Amazon, though in hindsight I probably could have just used ice cube trays covered instead. Anyway, after they froze, I popped them out into a giant freezer bag so I could make more batches.

We gave the girls sweet potatoes for the first time yesterday. Bailey literally laughed between every bite, she apparently thought it was hilarious. They seemed to do way better with these than the rice cereal. Going to try to make all fresh baby food instead of buying jar stuff.

Sleep! Lots and lots of sleep!

Finally! An awesome sleep night for both babies, at our own house! I put the girls down around 7:45. Both woke up at 8:30 p.m. and I thought, here we go again. But aside from the 8:30 wake up, they slept straight until the morning when we had to WAKE THEM UP at 7:10! Amazing.

Here's what we did:

• Rice cereal - last night they did an awesome job and ate most of it. Full tummies! 
• Double layers - on the advice of my mother-in-law who did two layers when she had them overnight last weekend (and they slept through the night without waking up), I put them in cotton footed sleepers with fleece sleep sacks over that. This makes me feel super bad if they were waking up because they were cold, but at least I will try double layers from now on.
• Noise machine on all night - we had the noise machine on a 45 minute timer but now we are just letting it run all night.

Sleep issues continue

The girls FINALLY slept through the night again, at their grandparents' house, ha. We pawned the kids off on Darren's parents so we could have a night out (and some sleep), which was a wonderful and much needed break and a nice night out enjoying a few Christmas Ales. I warned my in-laws ahead of time that Bailey has been waking up at least five times a night (and when she actually sleeps, Brooklyn feels compelled to step in), but of course they both sleep like little angels without waking up once, ten hours for Bailey and eleven for Brooklyn.

I thought, well maybe they have finally passed through this dreaded sleep regression and Sunday night will be a good sleep night for all. FALSE. It was one of Bailey's worst sleep nights to date! She finally refused to go back to sleep at 3:45 am. Sigh.

Here are my theories on why they slept so well at their grandparents' house:
1. They (meaning Brooklyn and Bailey) are messing with us. Let's sleep the whole time over there but not when we are home, it will be funny!
2. They (meaning my in-laws) are messing with us. Maybe the girls really woke up 1,000 times like they have been. (Just kidding about this one.)
3.  Something about their house and the change of environment was conducive to sleep. I've already inquired about room temp and the heat setting is about the same.
4. The rice cereal. The girls got it in their bottle at my in-laws so got all of it down. We've been spoon feeding them and they are only getting some of it down (there's a lot of spitting up).
5. Bailey wanted to spend extra time with her mommy on my birthday (which is today, happy 29 to me).
6. There is no rhyme or reason, because they are babies and sometimes have good sleep nights and sometimes don't.

So I know the answer is probably number six. You can sit here all day (and night, because it's not like we'll be sleeping) and try to figure it out, but they are just babies and it's (hopefully) just a phase. They are so adorable though. That helps.

Bailey sleeps, solids and more

After two and a half weeks of Bailey waking up all night long, she finally slept through the night! God bless the creators of rice cereal. I really think that helped.

So you must be thinking, wow you are really refreshed after such a great night of sleep, why are you still chugging coffee and looking like a zombie? That would be because Brooklyn decided she was going to wake up all night long instead. #twinproblems

Actually part of Brooklyn's problem is that she LOVES flipping from her back to her tummy. Every time I went in there, she was on her stomach. Confession, the first time I went in there I was only half awake and could barely see in the dark. I tried to give her a pacifier and couldn't figure out why it wasn't going into her mouth. That's because I was trying to put it into the back of her head. Surprise, tummy down!

Here is a blog post that my coworker Margie (who doesn't have kids, but is a dog mom) sent me after I was complaining talking about Bailey's sleep issues. http://sweetmadeleine.ca/2013/10/14/here-are-some-lies-people-tell-you-about-infant-sleep/ I really like this post because she discusses how its normal for babies/toddlers to have what she calls "the dark time" where they wake up constantly. She also says she nurses her baby to sleep, which all the experts tell you not to, and doesn't care because it works for her family. This made me feel a little better because I rock the girls to sleep every night and don't let them cry at all in their cribs (both of which experts would tell you I am pretty much destroying my children by not letting them fall asleep on their own or self soothe). This may change down the road but it works for us now, so to hell with the experts. Also, I refuse to labeled as a bad mom for rocking my babies to sleep. I came from the Penny Beckwith (my mom) school of child rearing in which the more hugs, kisses and cuddles the better.

We started the girls on rice cereal on Monday night. They were, of course, totally adorable. Brooklyn seemed to like it more than Bailey. They didn't eat much the first night, spit most of it up, but did a little better Tuesday night. The doctor said not to introduce anymore foods until the six months check up. Then I think I'll do sweet potatoes as the first food. I got a baby bullet to make baby food at my shower and I've been reading up on it and I'm really excited to start that.

Brooklyn's rice cereal adventures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLVr_SNJMHQ

Bailey's rice cereal adventures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGQ7SV0j69U


Nov. 17 was World Prematurity Day. Makes me so happy I was able to carry the girls to 34 weeks after having several labor scares much earlier. And with only 11 days in the NICU, the girls did so great. My cousin's friend's friend recently had a 23 week old baby that weighed just over a pound. You can follow their story here: http://www.blessingsforbenton.blogspot.com/ Warning that the images and stories are super upsetting. He is hanging on for now (according to the blog, I don't know the family) but could always use more prayers.

My 34 weekers:

Care Bears costume, rolling over and sleepy parents

There was another used baby sale (this one hosted by Rocky River Early Childhood PTA) on Saturday. We don't really need anything, but I went for an hour just to check it out (and for a little mom break). Picked up a few clothes in the 6 to 12 month range (including a few pairs of $1 jeans, score) but the real winners of the day were the Care Bears costume for $8 (size 2t to 4t) and the mini George Foreman Play-Doh grill that sizzles when you press down. And don't you worry, I found a second Care Bears costume on ebay for $10 that I bought when I came  home. Compared to the twin sale, I was really overwhelmed because there were way more people there (I go to the twin sale on members only night so its not that crowded) and everything was set up by the seller's table instead of grouping all the same size clothing and items together. The advantage of having the seller tables is that you can bargain down items whereas the twin sale the price listed is what you pay.

In other news, Brooklyn rolled back to front four times on Saturday! She already moves around on the mat like crazy so I predict she crawls early. Also, she does have a tooth coming in. She hasn't had the best last few days because its been bugging her (I assume. Though she has yet to tell me what is bothering her in more concrete terms than "wah wah".) The only caveat of her flipping is that now I can't swaddle her completely when she sleeps. We've been trying to swaddle both girls with arm out (and I'll try both arms out in a few days, and then no swaddle at all after that.) Bailey has had a rough week (or two? time blends together) of sleeping. She keeps waking up every hour to hour and a half (or sometimes more frequently!). She goes back to sleep really fast (usually just a pacifier or a noise machine being turned on) but she just can't stay asleep the whole night for some reason. Which is making both Darren and I very sleepy. Being woken up several times a night even for these quick little interruptions really cramps your REM cycle. So perhaps she is teething too? Now that she has an arm free, she has been jamming her hand into her mouth. No temp or anything at least.

We also went to the fundraiser for the little boy Gavin who is dying from cancer. (his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gifts-4-Gavin/390716804387349)  It was unbelievable sad, though uplifting to see so many people come together for a family. They raised a ton of money  (I heard $20K so that's great). Both the parents and the little boy were there all night (in his Superman cape.) Puts things into perspective for moments when life seems difficult that your world can completely shatter overnight. Complaining about lack of sleep (see above) seems petty when you think about this family. I know how lucky and blessed we are to have two healthy baby girls.

Gifts for Gavin Fundraiser

There is a fundraiser for a little boy named Gavin on Saturday night. (Follow his story by liking the Gifts 4 Gavin Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gifts-4-Gavin/390716804387349).

The father of the little boy went to Lakewood ( he played football with my brother). I don't actually know the family at all (Lakewood is so big), but the story is heartbreaking.

Gavin is just over a year old and he has a really rare type of cancer that was just discovered in August. They did surgery to remove a brain tumor but the cancer remains. Faced with a 10% survival rate and lots of aggressive treatment, the family opted to bring him home instead. So he's living out the rest of his life with his family (two older siblings and mom and dad) at home.

There's a fundraiser this Saturday from 6 to 10 pm in Rocky River. If you are looking for something to do this weekend, $35 buys you two drink and a meal from Italian Creations. There have raffles and a silent art auction as well. Details: https://www.facebook.com/events/1429205213967852/

Shameless self promotion... vote for our girls in the cutest baby contest!

I did it. I entered the girls into an online photo contest. Yep, I'm that mom. Hey, the prize is $1,000 to Kohls. They don't sell diapers or formula but they sell clothes!

So vote via this link: http://vip.kisscleveland.com/Contest/3QDCFS/UGC/ViewEntry?submissionId=642135

You can vote once a day if you are so moved.

5 months and growing up

The girls turned five months on Friday. I swear in the last week they have changed so much. Darren was in China for a business trip for four days (even with a lot of help from family, it was so hard without him!) and he said they looked way bigger when he came back. I did an unofficial weigh in on our home scale and Brooklyn is 14.4 and Bailey is 14 lbs. That still puts them around the 25th percentile but they are catching up!

Aside from weight, they have been holding their heads way better too. We've been helping them sit up with the boppy pillows or just holding them that way and now Brooklyn tries to pull herself to a sitting position when you lay her flat. They are both just so curious and noisy and want to know whats going on. Both of them can also put weight on their legs now (obviously while being held!) and we've been flying them around the room on their tummy (super baby) which makes them crack up (see video below). It seems like they are interacting with us a lot more, and they are even looking and smiling at the other baby sometimes. 

Brooklyn definitely has a tooth (I can feel it! Slightly to her right). And I think Bailey might be teething now too because she just started acting like her sister with the drooling and having a little trouble sleeping (Saturday night she woke up every thirty to forty minutes all. night. long. That is so unusual for her!).  

We put them in the jumperoo for the first time and they loved that! It was like sensory overload... music, lights, bouncing and being able to see what's going on. 

They also love the new game of "super baby."